


Halva

by poland



Series: Small Comforts [2]
Category: Stand Still Stay Silent
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-20
Updated: 2015-10-20
Packaged: 2018-04-27 06:34:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,159
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5037616
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/poland/pseuds/poland
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Emil watches over his injured crew mate. These events take place in the back of the tank between pages 406 and 407.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Halva

**Author's Note:**

> I'm doing an Emilalli fic for my NaNo attempt this year. Who else hates themselves this November, huh?

He only had to tilt his head to the side for just a moment to get his sore joint to finally pop. It wasn’t like he’d been sitting there more than a few hours while Tuuri drove them through the location listed on the map that Lalli had found for them. Maybe more than a few. He had been a bit of a nurse’s assistant to Mikkel as he played impromptu doctor, but they only find minor bleeding from Lalli’s nose and mysterious bit of crusted blood next to the corner of his left eye. Then it was changing the cranky and sleep deprived mage before finally leaving him to rest. Emil could have moved up to the front of the vehicle, but instead he kept vigil. Maybe he was in the wrong profession to be so nervous and worried over a little bit of blood.

But it wasn’t like he hadn’t seen it before. How many times had one of his old coworkers goofed off and cut themselves somehow on an old and broken part of the tall fencing in the area or just fallen and gotten hurt on a rock? Or what about the amount of times he’d had to make a disgusted face when he saw someone who was stupid enough to try and burn an area without proper hand gear on?

Emil hisses as he felt the pain spike and dully subside from his neck. The sleeping arrangements here were abysmal. It was likely the pain was simply from uncomfortable conditions and stress all around, although sitting in a slouch wasn’t helping him much. His back had begun to get sore on a daily basis, which was an entirely new feeling. Wasn’t this something that happened to old people? Was there something medically wrong with him that his back was hurting daily at only 19 years of age? He’d ask Mikkel sometime soon.

Adjusting himself with a foot to one knee, he slid the hair that had fallen into his face back into place. Even though he was normally very anal about how his hair needed to be treated, living in the wilderness more or less was getting the better of him day by day. Before long it might even get a split end or two. Truly hell on earth.

After contemplating things and closing his eyes in tired pain, he finally opened them again to see Lalli peering at him as best he could with one eye half open and creamy iris and pupil looking in his direction. Had he done that? He recalled quickly making a little bit of a loud noise just a moment ago and immediately became embarrassed. Letting Lalli sleep wasn’t supposed to be a job he could screw up. He cleared his throat in composure, but almost immediately regretted that decision too. Could he possibly be quiet at all? He half-whispered an apology. “I wasn’t trying to wake you…”

Not that Lalli understood him. His blink could mean a million different things. All he could see of his friend was his hair, forehead, eyes, and covered nose. As Lalli turned to him just slightly, the image didn’t change much, but he could clearly tell he was taking up his old pastime: staring at Emil.

But not being able to be understood sometimes had some perks, and there was something that was niggling at his brain. He wasn’t a common gossip and didn’t feel comfortable talking about it with Mikkel or Sigrun. Reynir was an Icelandic abnormality, so he was out of the question. Emil wasn’t even fully sure whether or not Reynir was aware Emil didn’t want him dead or anything. Which was another oddity: Lalli and he didn’t speak the same language but could get along well and communicate. Reynir? Not so much.

The Finnish language barrier was a burden on him and Lalli both, but the person who bridged the gap could clearly understand the Swedish Emil wanted to get off of his chest. He leaned over slightly, looking towards the area where Tuuri was. No sign of any eavesdropping on her end. Once he’d made sure the coast was clear, he leaned over even more and turned to Lalli whose eye was still wide and giving him the once over.

“You know, I’m not really sure what happened with you and your cousin earlier. Mostly because of her yelling in that gibberish Finnish you speak. But you seemed to be unhappy with whatever it was.” Lalli continued staring with no indication of understanding. “I’m just glad you got back in one piece, alright? When you come back with blood coming out of…everywhere, I guess, it can make people a little worried, you know?”

With a sigh, Emil waited for a beat to see if Lalli would react. After nothing, he shook his head slightly. There wasn’t anything to say anyway. He’d already learned Lalli would just do his own thing with no other direction needed or wanted. Emil had signed up for this job. If it was going to bother him this badly, he would have to get used to it until he could actually express this in a way that would make Lalli realize what he was saying. He couldn’t just convey this by staring at the scout, now looking at him intently with both eyes wide open.

He noticed that leaning over in this way wasn’t really helping his back and aching muscles any, and he was sure that if they found what Lalli had showed them then he’d have to go out and explore with the captain. Emil tried to stretch his back out as much as possible, feeling the painfully tense muscles scream as they were pulled to maximum capacity. Once he relaxed with a small puff, he opened his eyes again to notice Lalli still looking, hair mused.

It was instinctive to fix it, though it wasn’t as if he did that to other people. He often wanted to run a fine comb through Sigrun’s mess, often dreaded thinking about the last time Reynir brushed that forest he had to have running through that braid of his, but didn’t. When he did it for Lalli, he didn’t think anything of it. It was almost exciting to him that he could do this, and it made their friendship special.

Emil was finally a modicum content until Lalli rolled over, splaying his short hair all over his pillow again. He didn’t mean to, but Emil couldn’t help but groan. His hard work of gathering and smoothing it gone to waste! With Lalli’s eyes closed, he tried to find another semi-comfortable position from where he sat, though this proved to be almost impossible. “Just worry about getting rest.” He spoke quietly, hoping Lalli would get the message. He would like nothing more than to sleep as well, but Emil felt a small amount of comfort in the fact that his friend would instead.


End file.
